Fold, don't rack.

Industrial designer Mark Sanders' has designed a bike that folds together conserving space. This design is now being sold in the U.S. and allowing families to have all the space that they ever dreamed of. Let's be serious, bikes take up a hell a lot of room so let's be thankful that the elephant has been caged. FYI: It can fit in a suitcase.

View Images here:

http://www.core77.com/

Paul Rand Corporate Logos.

Paul Rand

Ever since Peretz Rosenabum, better known now as "Paul Rand", was young he had always had an interest in design. Rand was born in 1914 in Brooklyn, New York and at a young age he would lend a hand in designing signs for his father's grocery store as well as for his school events. Rand's father was not keen on the idea of his son trying to make a living off of art so he forced him into attending Manhattan's Harren High School. He still decided to enroll into art school. He attended Pratt Institute from 1929-1932 and then the Art Students League from 1933-1934. Even though Rand finished art school, he didn't believe that "either of these schools offered Rand much stimulation." With this, Rand is known as being by-and-large "self-taught as a designer, learning about the works of Cassandre and Moholy-Nagy" from European magazines.

Rand's career began with little assignments that obviously grew into larger ones. He started with a part-time position creating stock images for a syndicate that supplied graphic designs for magazines and newspapers. While building his portfolio, Rand had always been influenced by German advertising style Sachplakat, meaning ornamental poster, as well as the work of Gustav Jensen. Also around this time, he decided to hide his Jewish identity and shorten his lengthy name.  He believed that "Peretz Rosenbaum" was too long and decided to create 2 short names both with 4 letters each, giving us "Paul Rand." This name would serve as the brand name for his future accomplishments. 

Starting early, Rand started to create work that got him noticed internationally. He had, free of charge, made designs for the covers of magazines such as "Direction" in exchange for his ability to have complete artistic say in the design. Rand's popularity grew rapidly and didn't seem to trail off at any point. Rather, it only increased consistently. Rand started to make a big name for himself and started to establish himself as a prominent role in the graphic design world. 

Rand made name for himself from the major corporate logos that he has contributed, although his initial reputation was created from his work in page design. In 1936 Rand was assigned the task of designing the page layout for an Apparel Arts magazine. He has been noted for his ability to change dull photographs into awesome compositions. This layout earned Rand a full-time position as the art director for the Esquire-Coronet magazine. Seemingly crazy, Rand denied the position because he didn't feel as if he was ready for what the position entailed. Although, he gave more thought to the opportunity and finally took the position, taking charge of the fashion section of the magazine at the very young age of 23.

Rand's design freedom at Direction magazine served as being a very important thing in his career.Rand was able to experiment with the introduction of themes normally found in the "high arts" into his new graphic design, further advancing his life-long goal of bridging the gap between his profession and that of Europe's modernist masters. 

"On the December 1940 cover, which uses barbed wire to present the magazine as both a war-torn gift and a crucifix, is indicative of the artistic freedom Rand enjoyed at Direction; in Thoughts on Design Rand notes that it 'is significant that the crucifx, aside from its religious implications, is a demonstration of pure plastic form as well....a perfect union of the aggressive vertical (male) and the passive horizontal (female)."

Rand's talent did not stop there, however. What he is most notably known for is his contribution to many corporations in creating their identities that have been incredibly well-known throughout the years. IBM, ABC, Cummins Engine, Westinghouse, and UPS are many well-known corporations who have had the advantage of having Rand's hand in creating their now well-known graphic image.

"He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design was an effective tool. [. . .] Anyone designing in the 1950s and 1960s owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible for us to work. He more than anyone else made the profession reputable. We went from being commercial artists to being graphic designers largely on his merits. "

-Louis Danziger

In 1956 Rand created the corporate identity for IBM which was noted to be "not just an identity but a basic design philosophy that permeated corporate consciousness and public awareness."

The logo had been modified  several times before Rand started creating designs for packaging and marketing materials as well.In 1962 Rand also designed the corporate logo for ABC which epitomized the simplistic theme that Rand encorporated within all of his works.

Rand's logos had always been percieved as very simple but he wanted to make a very important point that "ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting."Rand has said that a logo "cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint." He continued to use his talent with many other corporations throughout his old age. Nearing his death a former client had said that he was simply, "the greatest living graphic designer."

Bibliography:

Heller, Steven. Paul Rand. Phaidon:1999.

http://www.paul-rand.com/biography.shtml

Wake up.

“Making clothes involves what I like…color, pattern, shape and movement…I like the everyday process…the people, the pressure, the surprise of seeing the work come alive walking and dancing around on strangers. Like red lipstick on the mouth, my products wake up and brighten and bring the wearer to life…drawing attention to her beauty and specialness…her moods and movements…her dreams and fantasies.” – Betsey Johnson

Tea Bag Holder

A winner from the 1-hour design contest designed a simple contraption that will aid you in your morning rush to make it more clean and easy to get your morning dose of tea. Cheers.

View images here:

http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/1_hour_design_challenge_winners_business_card_hacks_13353.asp

Blight.

A new invention named "Blight" has recently been created to make use of solar energy in order to conserve other forms of energy. This solar blind creates creates a link between indoor and outdoor, taking the daylight during the day and giving it back at night. The advantage of the Venetian blind is to have a large surface exposed to sunlight in a small, cumbersome object. With the revolving blades we can follow the course of the sun in order to catch a maximum of energy. Moreover we can adjust the position of the lamp to obtain various lighting effects. The produced energy can be used to supply a computer or other devices, by means of an inverter.

The Laundry Pod

Ever use a whole washing machine to wash 2 items for a last minute event? Well, in order to practice conservation and be kinder to our natural resources "The Laundry Pod" has been created. The device is perfect for the times you need to do a small load quickly but don't want to waste the energy or a trip to the laundromat. The invention was inspired by the salad spinner. The spinning action washes gently, rinses, and then extracts water to improve drying times.

The Benefits:

-Eco-consicous

-No wasting of water and energy by using big machines for small loads.

-Gray water can be used for watering plants, flushing, etc.

-Made from recycled materials.

-Ideal for small "in-between" loads and delicates.

-Can be used anywhere

-Saves trips to the Laundromat and dry cleaner.

-Big enough for a small load, but small enough for easy storage.

Early Economics.

A new spin on the piggy bank has been designed in hopes of educating early. The "Power Hog" is a power consumption metering piggy bank designed to sensitize kids to energy costs associated with running electronic devices. You simply plug the tail into the outlet and the device into the snout; feed a coin to meter 30 minutes of use.

Power Hog visually and symbolically associates power conservation with savings by using the iconic piggy bank as a visual reference. Kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or video game by feeding the Power-Hog with loose change. The Power-Hog meters consumption and blinks red when time is running out. It also helps parents meter the amount of time spend watching the tube.

H2-Oh!

A new device designed by Ariel Drach as a part of the Greener Gadgets design competition is something that can not only save your wallet, but as well as the rest of the world. This greener gadget is a small water meter device made for purpose of knowing how much water you actually use when you're showering, washing the dishes, or brushing your teeth. "Bware" is made from recycled ABS, and production costs are minimal. Also, it's very easy to operate! You attach the gadget to a shower or kitchen tap;Bware will start to count (it draws its power of the water stream). Note the number and try to use less water next time.

This device serves to make people more aware of the water that they're actually using to be able to save this valued natural resource. The device also comes with Wi-Fi connection and log software, making it easier to trace the water usage.

Take a seat.

New "prickly" chairs have been designed by Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers. The were designed with specific shapes, materials, colours, textures, and finishes to collide together to make a statement about prejudice and preconceptions. The design uses juxtaposition by combining the classical French oval chair with the Nopal cactus which symbolizes Mexican heritage and national pride.

http://www.core77.com/

WattBlocks

There are devices in our home that are famous for using energy even when they're not being

put to good use. Inventors in the Greener gadgets competition have fortunately come up with an

idea to stop wasting this energy and even put money back in your pocket that you shouldn't be 

spending on the energy that is being used in idle times. "WattBlocks" is the device that has been

created to easily stop this problem. The product is designed so that with a tap of your foot, it will

disconnect devices in your home that are using standby power. It's been estimated that this standby power accounts for $100 of a home's yearly power cost adding up to $10 billion annually in the United States.

The device is consisted of several WattBlocks, which are plugged in between wall outlets and vampire devices, and a master step switch that plugs into an outlet near the entry/exit of the home. As the user exits, tapping the step switch sends a signal through the home's power lines, telling all WattBlocks to block power to the vampires. The benefits are significant, with potential savings of up to 20,000 Watt-hours every month.

Eco-Chic.

Winners of an honorable mention at this year's Green Dot Awards, 60 Bags is a line of biodegradable bags that can last as long as you like or decompose in approximately 2 months. Each bag is made out of "flax-viscose" a non woven fabric. This material was developed and manufactured in Poland. the material is produced with flax fiber industrial waste, which means it doesn't exploit and natural resources and requires minimal energy during it's production. 

The material allows the bags to naturally decompose approximately 60 days after being discarded, which means they don't require expensive recycling or disposal in landfills.

The New Design: Kinetic Design.

Industrial design is moving in a new direction: Kinetic Design. Kinetic Design entails the aesthetic design of physical movement. By doing this, industrial designers will not just create forms, but design the movement of those forms for their time through space. This new form of design also opens doors for new curriculum in design schools. This new curriculum will be able to help develop new ways of thinking and ways to be innovative for young designers. Most industrial design firms consist of artists with various amounts of skills for their job. There are many that can draw, create foam or CAD (computer aided design) models, and develop color and graphic treatments but currently, there are no designers specifically designated to decide how the products will move. Kinetic designers will soon fill this void.

Kinectic Design can be useful in two main ways: First, as a means of improving the way existing objects perform their functions, and second, as a method of inventing and developing new product concepts.

Examples

Seeing the Future.

Microsoft Office Labs has recently released a video montage allowing us a look at what they predict the future of technology may bring. They've created their predictions with a 5-10 time horizon in mind. The montage ranges from topics such as Health, Manufacturing, Banking, an Retail.

Health-Imagine a future where you can monitor your own health with smart, connected devices, your health team can share data seamlessly, and doctors are empowered with a view of health records across multiple sources--all leading to better, faster, safer, more personalized care.

Manufacturing-Imagine a manufacturing environment of the future where workers collaborate seamlessly across time-zones, predictive, technologies automate processes, and sense and respond systems are connected across organizations, leading to better innovation, improved efficiencies, and more flexibility for customized products.

Banking-Imagine a banking experience where you're always connected to your finances, banks are empowered to anticipate your needs, and transactions are seamless through predictive technologies-whether you're in the branch, at home, or on the go.

Retail-Imagine a store of the future where you can quickly find and purchase everything you need;you have instant access to the product information you want;and the store can anticipate your needs and provide price and product offers in tune with your shopping history.

http://www.officelabs.com/projects/futurevisionmontage/Pages/default.aspx

Draft Text-Oscar Niemeyer

Introduction

Oscar Niemeyer was born on December 15th 1907 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With his career he has been considered one of the most important names in international modern architecture. He has also been known for his extensive work with reinforced concrete, pioneering the formal possibilities solely for their aesthetic impact.

Niemeyer has often been ridiculed by critics being called a "sculptor of monuments" and being said to be naive, frivolous and not even worthy of the title, "architect." Although, others praise him for his unique design and ability to create buildings by mixing volumes and empty space to create unconventional patterns.

Early Life

Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907. He spent his youth as a typical "Carioca" of the time. He was relatively unconcerned with his future. He finished his secondary education at the age of 21 and in the same year married Annita Baldo. The marriage gave him a sense of responsibility, so he decided to enroll in a university.

He started to work in his father's typography house and later graduated from Escola de Belas Artes as a engineer architect in 1934.He started working in the architecture studio of Lucio Costa and Carlos Leao. He had always felt dissatisfied with the architecture that he saw and believed he could change it by finding a career there. Niemeyer began to build a reputation and decided to join the Brazilian Communist Party. He had grew up during the time of the Russian Revolution as well as the Second World War making him become a young idealist. Although, his decision to join the communist party cost him much during his life. During the military dictatorship of Brazil his office was raided and he was forced into exile in Europe. This enabled Niemeyer to meet with diverse socialist leaders which eventually led into many friendships.

Born to run.

When a spontaneous project presents itself to us, we usually panic doubting our creativity and ability to be innovative in a short period of time.Instead of wasting time second guessing your abilities, Seth Godin has a new plan for you. What he suggests is to attack the project and don't allow any of your internal dialogue to trip you along the way. From his own experiences, he's learned that this plan DOES work.

"I went to my office space the next 20 hours rewriting every word of text, redesigning every package, rebuilding every schedule and inventing a new promotional strategy. It was probably 6 weeks of work for a motivated committee, and I did it in one swoop. Like lifting a car off an infant, it was impossible, and I have no recollection at all of the project now.....when we sprint, all the internal dialogue falls away and we just go as fast as we possibly can. When you're sprinting you don't feel the sore knee and you don't worry that the ground isn't perfectly level. You just run. You can't sprint forever. That's what makes it sprinting. The brevity of the event is a key part of why it works."

Not to be fooled.

Forget the maps that you once used in your 7th grade geography course. Consider them dated. The newest form of design for maps these days is something that surpasses their old 2-D ways. The Dymaxion Map is a 3-D map that is specially designed to set people's perspectives back to the right way of looking at things when it comes to understanding the globe. For so long, 2-D maps have been slowly distorting the spatial relationship between earth's contents. 

"Although maps are often portrayed as an objective spatial basis on which 'map' data, they are always about perspective and the change of it:which country is in the center, where does most projection-distortion occur, which colors are used,...As tools of communication, they can easily become tools of manipulation, allowing one to lie with maps as easily as with statistics. Yet, put in a positive sense they can convey and enhance complex messages in a powerful visual way and shift people's perspective on even abstract developments through spatial contextualization."

Buckminster Fuller is the designer of the Dymaxion Map.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Dymaxion_2003_animation_small1.gif

Class Notes

Many fonts exist in the graphic design world, but really, only a select few are used regularly. 

Times New Roman is one of the oldest fonts used.

QUARK

File--> New Project-->Choose the horizontal configuration. 

-Drag the mouse from the side, to the middle of the layout (5' 1/2").

-Create a picture box: Choose the icon with the x in the box from the toolbar.

-Drag the picture box across the entire cover page.

("Content Tool" moves text and pictures throughout the space.)

(To preview fonts use, "Suitcase Fusion", on the dock.)

Oscar Niemeyer

Step it up a notch, 2-D!

"Photosynth is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs: the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet."

Just when you thought film was nearly obsolete, could even 2-D photography,in general, be as well? Photosynth is the newest program that is able to take your summer Bahamas vacation and make it yet again a reality in even in the dead of winter. Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos. Photosynth was inspired by the breakthrough research on Photo Tourism from the University of Washington and Microsoft Research. This work pioneered the use of photogrammetry to power a cinematic and immersive experience

Building Happiness

"How do we construct happiness? What components make for a happy building or space? How do we measure and quantify this response? is it possible? Who is responsible for it? Can it be built in?”

"Building Happiness"--something that I thought was really cool and that, also, made a lot of sense. The book talks about human's relationship with architecture and the way things are designed around them that have an affect on their emotional state. The book studies how we measure and define our happiness and how the spaces around us dictate the psychological impact on these evaluations. Are our emotional states simply personal feelings, or could it be also the things around us that influence our moods?

The book includes work from contemporary architects, artists, writers and commentators that are able to showcase their hypotheses in both short commentaries and long essays.

CLASS NOTES

Scanning Images:

1. File

2. Import

3. Choose Scanner

4. Select part of image desired

5. Scan

To smooth an image's surface of a pattern:

1. Filter

2. Blur

3. Blur

Rotating Images:

1. Image

2. Rotate

3. Arbitrary

4. Type in amount and direction

Saving Scanned Images for printing:

1. Choose "EPS", meaning, "Encapsulated Post Script"